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Class Choosing Guide
Introduction There is no best Class in MapleStorySEA. The reason for this is that the Game Creators go through a process called "class balancing". If there was a best Class, everyone would be playing on that Class and there would be no need at all for a variety of Classes. Game Creators create an array of balanced Classes, to make sure that varied playing experiences are available. Each Class has its own pros and cons. Therefore, the hard part is deciding which Class fits you the best. It might be because of the massive damage, looks, or just for fun, but your class should fit your playing style. Otherwise, you'll probably become bored quickly and MapleStory won't be fun for you. Be aware, though, of the costs to run your character. If you are confused, just remember this; the more mesos you have, the better the character can be. Adventurers/Explorers Warrior __notoc__ Warriors have characteristics of tanks; they are able to take a lot of damage and can deal them back with Power Guard. As they are melee fighters, they cannot use ranged attacks, so they are given much more health and defense to compensate. While they can prove to be quite powerful later, Warriors are generally eclipsed by some classes in the 1st and 2nd job (you probably aren't playing for purely that). The life of a Warrior requires much patience, but to those willing to tough it out, it will be a rewarding experience. Pros *Highest HP and defense of all classes. *Choice of eight different weapon types. *Proficient at both mobbing and single targets. *Generally good in the Monster Carnival. *Very high raw damage. Cons *No ranged attacks until 3rd job. *Lowest MP of all Classes. *Damage is unstable in 1st job. *Low accuracy and avoidability. *Warriors are usually asked to join a party for the Kerning City Party Quest to help kill all the monsters other than King Slime as they usually miss against it. Fighter Fighters are a powerful class, with incredible damage for single as well as multiple targets. They get powered-up attack skills such as Final Attack and Rage, making them desirable for many Party Quests. The Weapons available to them are Swords and Axes. Their damage-dealing capability is further enhanced by their advancement to Crusader and even further to Hero. Unfortunately, they lack the range compared to other classes. Pros *Highest HP] in the game *Acquires Rage, which raises their Party's attack by a significant amount *Deals more damage than the other two Warrior classes on single elementally-neutral monsters in 3rd job, and on mobs of two or three in 4th job. *The skill Panic deals ENORMOUS damage at high levels instant 99.999 *Really high damage Cons *Lowest MP in the game. *Poor mob control in 2nd job *Charging up Combo can lead to a string of unstable damage, regardless of being equipped with Axe or Sword. *Panic needs to be charged up in order to deal good damage. Page Pages focus on Swords and Blunt Weapons, and also receive higher HP than Spearmen and more MP than Fighters. With the advancement to White Knight, Pages become capable of dealing damage sometimes exceeding Fighters with any enemy weak to elemental attacks. On top of that, Paladins have a skill called Sanctuary that does an incredible 149,999 on 15 monsters. Pros *Rarest warrior *More HP than Spearmen. *More MP than Fighters. *Deal more damage than the other two Warrior classes on single elementally-weak monsters in 3rd and 4th jobs, as well as on elementally-weak mobs of 4-6 in 4th job as a Paladin. *Become a very defensive class by 3rd and 4th job. *Incredible 4th job skill. Cons: *Less HP than other Fighters. *Less MP than Spearmen *Lose their mob control in 2nd job, but regain it in 3rd and 4th. *Poor damage in earlier jobs makes it difficult to level Pages. Spearman Spearmen use Polearms and Spears. Generally, their attacking speed is quite slow. However, their 3rd jobs skills are very powerful and out-damage almost every other class. Because of the length of their weapon, they also have the best range out of any other Warrior class. The good mob control and good party skills such as Hyper Body puts them in high demand for parties. They can advance towards Dragon Knight-hood and further towards Dark Knight-hood. Pros *High maximum damage. *Masters of mob-control. *Acquire Hyper Body, essential to Crossbow and Claw users in Boss run survivability at 3rd job and beyond. *Balanced HP and MP. *Larger melee range than Fighters and Pages. *Stable damage at 3rd job and beyond. *Hybrid (those who use both weapons) Dragon Knights experience greater mob versatility that the other two Warrior classes at 3rd job and beyond. *Also are good at Monster Carnival (as all warriors). Cons *Least HP among other Warriors if not made into a HP Warrior but there is Hyper Body to compensate for that. *Most unstable damage in 1st and 2nd jobs. *Slow attacking speed. *Beaten by the other two in 3rd and 4th job on single targets. *Most common Warrior. *Less defense than other warriors as Polearms and Spears are two-handed weapons(meaning they can't equip shields). Magicians __notoc__ Magicians are very abundant in the MapleStorySEA community. Magicians have very low HP, but the ranged spells like Energy Bolt and Magic Claw, as well as the protection of Magic Guard more than make up for it. Magicians have good damage until 3rd job, when other classes get much more powerful attacks. Also, once they reach 2nd job, you have a skill named MP Eater, which allows you to drain MP from enemies. Pros *Fastest leveling throughout the whole game. *Incredible amounts of MP and MP recovery. *Stable damage throughout the game. *Can attack both up close and ranged. *Can attack through obstacles (Magic Claw). *Can take more damage earlier than other classes with Magic Guard. *The 'Ultimates' (Blizzard, Meteor, Genesis) are by far the most powerful mobbing skills in the entire game, able to 1-hit-KO all ordinary monsters. (Not including Bosses or Monsters in the Temple of Time). Don't be fooled by their poor DPM (Damage Per Minute). *Highest damage among all Classes in 1st job *Clerics have some nice supportive skills in 2nd job *At low levels, they deal the highest DPM (Damage Per Minute). **This is due to attacking with magic and the fact that monsters have poor magic defense at lower levels. (Example: While you're Lvl 10, you can hit Dark Stumps. However, other Classes are stuck with Slimes.) Cons: *''Very'' low HP without Magic Guard. *Lots of money spent on MP Potions (but less on HP Potions) until you get MP Eater in 2nd job, unless you know how to conserve well. *Due to the reliance on elemental weaknesses, the Leveling process can pit you against same enemies over and over *Bad DPM (Damage Per Minute) at high levels. *If Sealed, Magicians have no hope (unless they have All-Cures) *Magic Guard makes it so that both HP and MP go down when hit, which leads to trickier consumption of Potions. *Worst single target damage in 4th job, not generally wanted for Boss runs (other than Clerics). Magicians can 'jump attack' by pressing the spell's assigned key and jump at the exact same time. Magicians who are 2nd job and above can also 'telecast', which is similar, but replacing the Jump key with the Teleport key. Ice strike can be used while jumping if done at the same frame. Although other classes overpower them in 3rd class, Magicians have strong mob attacks and Party skills that are liked among Parties. Fire/Poison Fire/Poison Wizards deal a lot of damage and can drain away at the Monster's HP using poison spells. They are the fastest-leveling Magician at 3rd job due to Poison Mist's large area of effect. Pros *Rarest Magician (Basically nowhere near how common other Magicians are). *Impressive 3rd job leveling speed because of Poison Mist. *Effective drain against high-leveled enemies with poison attacks. *Fire has the second most elemental advantage, second to Holy. *Fast 4th job leveling with Meteor Shower (as with the other Magician Classes). Cons *Poison is not much of a use in early levels as a Fire/Poison. *Poison can be difficult to use if inexperienced. *The only fire-offensive spell for 2nd job, Fire Arrow, is blocked by terrain (as with Assassins). *Poor Bossing *Meteor Shower uses an incredible amount of MP. Ice/Lightning Ice/Lightning Wizards can freeze their opponents and bombard them with spells that hit multiple enemies at once. Pros *Always have skills capable of hitting multiple monsters (Thunderbolt at 2nd job, Ice Strike at 3rd, and Chain Lightning/Big Bang/Blizzard at 4th). *MP Eater with Lightning will often get a great amount of MP back. *Cold Beam isn't blocked by terrain. *Constant freezing spells usually means lesser potion use due to lack of HP loss. *Damage on Ice/Lightning-weak monsters is generally more than a Cleric's/Priest's's/Bishop's damage on Holy/Heal-weak monsters Cons *Damage on Ice/Lightning-weak monsters is generally less than an Fire/Poison's damage on Fire-weak monsters *Lightning has the second least elemental advantage *Blizzard uses an incredible amount of MP. *Unwanted for Bossing. Cleric While Clerics don't deal as much damage as the other Magicians, they do possess the unique ability to Heal, which tends to have the opposite effect on the undead, and can affect up to five monsters of this type at a time. Dark Monsters are also vulnerable to Holy Arrow. Although Clerics are perfectly capable of solo-ing, they are widely acknowledged as a Party class. This is especially true once they reach the third job advancement, as Priests receive excellent supportive skills. Pros *Can self-Heal, eliminating the need for HP pots (unless Sealed) *Heal is a great mobbing skill for undead monsters *Great support skills, making it easy to find a party *Able to jump-attack freely with Heal *Can gain small amounts of EXP from healing other players *Holy Symbol, a 3rd job skill, gives 150% EXP when the priest is in a party. (Still gives 110% when not) *If a Cleric has reasonable SP on MP Eater, and Heal and MP Eater is used together on un-dead monsters (eg. Zombie Mushroom), the Cleric will never run out of HP or MP. Cons *Weakest damage at 2nd and 3rd job *Leveling process pits you against same enemies over and over *Limited enemies are affected by Heal (the only mob skill until one reaches mid-level Priest) *Most common Magician class *The low HP limits training options for Priests to almost exclusively training with Dark Knights. *Genesis, while still very powerful, is the weakest compared to Meteor and Blizzard (assuming that the Arch Mage/Blaze Wizard has Element Amplification). In 4th Job, all Mages get a skill where they can have infinite MP, but of course, to use the skill itself, it uses a big amount of MP, only lasts for 40 seconds, and has a cool-down timer of 10 minutes. Thief __notoc__ Thieves are a very unique class in MapleStory. They can jump-attack with throwing-stars and attack up close with daggers. Thieves don't have much defense, but they have high avoidability, so enemies tend to miss them. They get fast attacks instead of few strong blows. Pros *Very fast attacks. *Can attack with range or melee. *Can jump-attack. *Haste is a lot of fun. *Highest avoidability and second highest accuracy. *'DEX-less' or 'Pure LUK' thieves are known for their high damage. Cons *Low defense. *Very common job. *Rather expensive, even if using a normal AP build. Assassin An Assassin (often abbreviated 'Sin') is the ranged thief using throwing-stars and claws. They have more stable damage than Bowmen but do less damage in general than Bandits because of unstable damage. With Haste, they are very fast. Pros *Ranged attacks from throwing stars. *Slightly more stable than Bowmen. *Pretty good single-target combat. *Can often do critical shots which is very useful. *Fastest-moving class in the game with Haste + Flash Jump *Triple Throw with Shadow Partner shoots 540 stars per minute. *Required class for bossing due to 2nd highest DPM (Damage Per Minute) to a boss. *Can Jump-attack without pressing both attack and jump at the same time. *With Meso Up, they can earn more money easily. Cons: ' *Poor at short range/melee combat. *Do not shine at mobbing (no mob attacks in 2nd or 4th job). *Lucky Seven is their main attack skill until the 4th job. *Low HP becomes a hassle in 3rd job, as with Bowmen. *Equipment and Scrolls are expensive. *Good Throwing-Stars are very expensive. *Only one weapon avaliable for Assassins on Victoria Island; the Garnier. *Can't hit with Throwing-stars too close or too far away from the monster. Bandit A Bandit (abbreviated 'dit') is the melee dagger thief. Although they have less HP and defense than Warriors, they have high avoidably and generally fast attacking. They get a high-damage skill (due to attacking ''6 times) during the 2nd job skill called Savage Blow. '''Pros *Has more HP then Assassins *High damage potential with Savage Blow. *Less common than Assasins *Very versatile (mobbing, single targets, Meso Exploding). *Acquire Meso Guard in 3rd job, granting them survivability parallel to Warriors and Magicianss, and also saving money. *Meso Explosion is one of the biggest damage dealers in the game. *Better damage than Assassins in 4th job on mobs. Cons *No long-ranged attacking skill before 4th job, meaning a lot of damage inflicted on them *Savage Blow's multiple attacking means it being more affected by monsters' weapon defense, which becomes a problem later in the game. *Meso Explosion wastes A LOT of mesos. *Lowest DPM (Damage Per Minute) in 1st job *Though it has higher HP than Assassins, they are not great tankers Dual Blade The newest Thief class. Dual Blades favor Kataras and Dagger as weapons. Pros *Fast attacks *Possesses Many mob skills *Strong from Lvl 20+ *Gains skills quickly Cons *Must go through many quests in order to start as a Dual Blade *Kataras are hard to acquire *Require Mastery Books for many of the multi-attack skills *Skills have high MP requirements Bowman __notoc__ Bowmen can use ranged attacks and hit hard with them. Although useless at close range combat until the 3rd job with Arrow Rain or Arrow Eruption, their high ranged damage capability makes up for it. If a monster gets close enough, the archer might whack it back a long way, and as bows are fast on speed, they can shoot it then. They are not totally useless. They have unstable damage at first, and jump-attacking with a bowman requires precision timing. Now, bowmans don't usually jump-attack. When they shoot the arrow, it will curve up or down a bit, allowing the bowman to hit monsters on other platforms. This is the same with Assassins Pros *Highest accuracy among all classes. (Bowmans can train on monsters many Levels above their current Level, while other jobs are stuck with the lower-leveled ones) *Has a knockback ability. *Has excellent range. *Large arsenal of mob attacks. *Needed in boss runs for Sharp Eyes, one of the best party buffs in the game Cons *Unstable damage until the 2nd Job Advancement. *Nearly impossible to attack while surrounded in 1st, 2nd, and 4th job (Arrow Rain/Arrow Eruption in 3rd job, but is just too weak in 4th) *Restricted jump-attacking. *Low HP and no HP protection skills become a hassle in 3rd job, as with Hermits/Night Lords. There are such Bowmen who do not use Arrows, just knocking back monsters a long way and inflicting damage that way. DO NOT try this unless you are extremely bored with the other jobs and have a lot of funding, as the 'whack' only hits one monster and does horrible damage. Hunter Hunters are Bowmen who use Bows. Hunters attack faster, but they do less damage than Crossbowmen. They can move onward towards becoming a Ranger, and further towards to Bow Master. Pros *Faster attacks. *Acquires a stunning (Arrow Bomb) mob skill in 2nd job and high-damaging fire-based (Inferno) mob skill in 3rd job. *Acquires Hurricane, an attack skill that fires normal damage arrows (100%) at a rate of 500 per minute. *Third best DPM (Damage Per Minute) at 4th job, making them valuable for bossing. Cons * Less damage than Crossbowmen . Crossbowman Crossbowmen are Bowmen who use Crossbows. Crossbowmen do higher damage at a slower attack rate. They can move on towards becoming a Sniper, and further towards Marksman-ship. Since it is the least common class, we suggest you TAKE PRIDE in your crossbow! Pros *Higher damage. * Acquires a high-damaging (Iron Arrow) mob skill in 2nd job and a freezing (Blizzard) mob skill. *Acquires a powerful mob attack similar to Iron Arrow (Piercing). *At 4th job acquires a skill that kills all but boss monsters in one shot (Snipe) Cons *Slower attacks. *Iron Arrow can't fire upwards or downwards like Arrow Bomb. *Marksmen have poorer bossing ability than Bowmasters, they are more suited to mobbing. Pirates __notoc__ Pirates are the 2nd newest Adventurer class in MapleStory. They have the semi-unique ability to be range or melee players, shared only with Thieves. They have the option of two types of weapons; guns (ranged) and knuckles (melee). Like warriors, it is highly recommended to pick a weapon type and stick with it. Pirates also have a highly unique skill set. Pros *Wide variety of skills. *Transformations/Battleship have extremely high damage potential. *Gunslingers are mostly ranged, but can attack close up, and even Brawlers have pretty long range melee attacks. *Dash is always good for mobility, but don't use it on Brawlers since you'll be switching directions a lot with your skills in 2nd job. *Time Leap is an awesome skill to use on high-leveled Bosses like Zakum, Horntail,and Pink Bean. Cons *Less Maple Weapons due to being a new job. *Both have rather little damage at earlier levels Gunslingers Gunslingers are the ranged Pirate class. They are very accurate, and attack extremely fast. They are a combination of Bowmen (attack style) and Assassins (unique skills). Pros *Very high rate of fire. *Stable damage. *Battleship has highest DPM (Damage Per Minute) in the game. *Extremely powerful from 3rd job onwards. *Can shoot up close unlike some ranged classes. *Wings + Recoil Shot is VERY fun, especially when you effectively use them while training. Cons *Poor mobbing ability until they get to 3rd job. *Although Battleship has highest DPM, Night Lords still out-damage them at bosses because of the poor durability of Battleship. *Very weak at 1st and 2nd job. Infighters Infighters are the melee Pirate class, but don't be fooled with that information alone, for every job enhancement they go through, they get at least 1 very long range melee attack. A few examples of this are Corkscrew Blow, Backspin Blow, Shockwave, and Dragon Strike, all of which hit multiple enemies at the same time. In the 2nd job enhancement, they get 2 stun attacks; Backspin Blow and Double Uppercut, which are further made useful by the 3rd job enhancement's Stun Mastery. They are a hybrid mix of a Warrior and a Bandit. Pros *High attack power of a Warrior. *Fast attacks and unique skills of a Bandit. *Long ranged melee attacks (skills only, otherwise very short range). *Transformations increase accuracy and avoidability as well as attack power by insane amounts. *Great at mobbing. *Awesome-looking attacks, especially in the 3rd and 4th jobs. *Time Leap is a great party skill for higher-leveled Buccaneers *One of the few melee classes that get Criticals. Brawlers are very good at CPQing, and can solo from 700-1.5k Carnival Points Cons: *Some skills and knuckles alone are very short range. *A few of the 3rd job skills require that you transform before you can actually use them. *Very slow throughout 3rd and 4th jobs *Once you get transformation, you won't be able to use most of the powerful skills till 4th job. *In 3rd job, you will have to use many different attacks, which take up, like half your keyboard. *Tends to burn HP pots due to having to stay close to the monsters. Hero/Legend Aran The Legend class of a warrior, Aran, uses a Polearm as a choice of weapon. Unlike the Spearman, it uses skills that speed up its attack in the first job. Also like the Spearman, they have an extended distance of attack. They have the biggest close range mobbing skill (biggest mobbing skills are 'Ultimates' that hit fifteen monsters) that hits twelve monsters. They advance but still have the same name, Aran. A very quick way of training from Lvl 30 through 40 is at Monster Carnival. If you can hit Toy Trojans, go into room 3 or 4. Ask the other team to mass summon Toy Trojans and spam attack. You should level at a considerable speed. Pros *Has a skill which attacks multiple monsters during 1st Job. *Hits the largest number of monsters in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd job. *Great in Monster Carnival at any level. *Only class with combo system. *Combo Drain greatly reduces the need for potions. *Combo attacks can range up from 410%-1500% of your attack, depending on your job advancement. *Uses an element (ice) like the Cygnus Knights. *Combo skills use no MP. *Has Critical unlike other warriors *Combo Barrier makes monsters attacks weaker. *Higher MP than other warriors. Though Arans have higher MP than other warriors, they use much less MP than them, as skills which require combos (eg. Combo Smash, Combo Drain) do not require any MP. All it requires an amount of combos. Cons *Lacks party skills as only one is available (Combo Barrier). *Hero's Will uses five skill points as opposed to one. *Repeatedly presses the attack key for attacks. *Accuracy problems like all warriors. *Lower HP than the average warrior. *Compulsory to do quests to obtain skills. *Seduced and Stun break the combo count, due to Arans's dependence on their combo count. Evan The Legend for Magicians. The previous Legend, Freud, fought the Black Mage long ago. His dragon, Afrien, was wanted by the Black Mage, so that he could become stronger. His plan failed, so he decided to freeze Freud in ice. The other Legends saved him by diving in front of him. That's why Aran is frozen in ice, and Evan isn't. Afrien died saving Freud. Freud saved an egg, and hid it so somebody, someone could find it, and become the Hero's successor. Pros *Has a party skill that allows to resurrect 1~2 random party members. *Has a party skill that gives resistance to magic attacks. *A skill like Berserk, but only for MP. *Combination of Fire, Ice, Lightning and Dark elemental attacks. *Can deal critical damage, unlike other mages. *Early mobbing skills. *'Very powerful' throught the whole game. *'Very easy' to level up throught the whole game. *Gets a few NX Items for free at levels 17-22. *The Dragon has 10 growths in total (10th Growth at level 160). *Acquires 31 skills in total. Cons *Dragon only attacks in the direction you are facing. *No MP Eater, MP Recovery Increase or Improving Max MP skills. *''Very''' Common class. *Have to do all of the 'New Hero' quests for getting enough Skill Points in order to max all his skills. *The free NX items that given to him are available for 1 week only. Conclusion Hopefully, you have realized that there is no best class to MapleStory. All classes have their good points and bad points. Remember class-balancing and keep in mind that although one class might dominate at a certain level, at later levels your class may be stronger than they are. Do not forget that you should also allow your personality to dominate the decision on which class to choose, rather than choosing a class because many people choose it, or because it is recommended by your friends. A brief description and general overview for each class would be the following. Magicians aren't meant for bossing, they are more of a fast training class, with skills such as Blizzard, Meteor and Genesis. These skills can attack up to 15 of the strongest monsters in the game and can kill them with a few attacks depending on the level, therefore making them the best mobbing / leveling class. Thieves are an attacking class, Night Lords being the best class for bossing and having almost the best DPM in game as well as being most mobile. Shadowers are good for attacking as well and can fight close or mid ranged and have good endurance with meso guard. Warriors are another good class for attacking. Dark Knights are the warrior class that are needed for bossing due to HB as well as good attacking skills. Paladins are a very unique class, least played in the game but are powerful. They don't boss as much as heroes or drk's but have a lot to offer. Heroes can hit some of the highest numbers in the game and are good for bossing and wanted for rage. Archers with Bow Masters and Marksman are a ranged class with the highest accuracy and good stable damage. They aren't as strong as Night Lords or Corsairs but they are very close to their damage. Bow Masters are needed in parties for Sharp eyes allowing more critical hits and they are a powerful class, as is marksman. Pirates with corsair and marauder are a powerful class with corsair providing highest DPM and Marauders with good damage as well along with a popular party skill that increases everyone's attacking speed. Category:Classes